


Goodbye (please don't cry)

by dayishujia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Forehead Kisses, Heavy Angst, Holding Hands, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, I'm crying, Keith and Shiro talk about the future, M/M, everyone's crying, no happy ending, you're crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 17:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10746135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayishujia/pseuds/dayishujia
Summary: Keith and Shiro say goodbye.





	Goodbye (please don't cry)

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt by [sheithfromvoltron](https://sheithfromvoltron.tumblr.com/): _gimme the sheith: “Letting people down is my thing, baby.”_
> 
>  
> 
> second warning, just to be clear, **there is character death**.
> 
> i actually teared up writing this. imagine: my cold, dead heart _felt things_. i had _emotions_. wow.
> 
> title is a lyric from [i will always love you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDqqm_gTPjc) by the queen, dolly parton

It was over. 

_ Finally _ . 

Relief washes over him and the dam breaks. In front of him, the planet was alit with the aftermath of war. Behind him, he could hear his friends’ voices calling for him. 

_ He did it _ . 

His whole body was heavy with ache, the pain of battle.

He tries to turn, to face them, but his feet catch on something and doesn’t make it. Just before he’s about to hit the ground, someone catches him. They fall together and they hold him close, head cradled in the nook of an elbow.

He’s not sure when he had closed his eyes, but Shiro’s soft voice reaches his ears and he’s urging him to open them, so he does. It’s a little more difficult than he expected and it took a few tries before he was able to keep them open.

Looking up, he manages to focus on Shiro’s face. He looks a little worse for wear, a thin streak of blood coming from somewhere in his hair trailing down the side of his face. There’s a few new cuts and bruises, but nothing life-threatening.

_ Good _ , Keith thinks. He’s glad Shiro was alright.

Then he fucuses on the blood, tries to find the cut the stream originated from but he can’t.  _ It looks like it hurts _ , Keith thinks as he reaches up to run his fingers through it. 

Shiro tilts his head into Keith’s fingers. His hand grabs Keith’s, pressing his palm to his cheek. He kisses it once then returns it to his face. 

“You did it, baby,” he says. “You did it.”

Keith grins up at him. It was increasingly hard to keep his eyes open and in some deep,  dark place, Keith  _ knew _ .

He had made a severe miscalculation. 

“Can…” he swallows and tastes blood. He looks up at Shiro and suddenly feels so tired. “Can we go home now?”

“Yeah,” Shiro chokes on a sob. He grips Keith’s hand harder. “Yeah, buddy, we can.”

Keith smiles again. “I let you down.”

Shiro shakes his head. He places Keith’s hand down and brushes Keith’s overgrown hair out of his face, wipes the blood from his chin. “No. No, baby, you didn’t.”

“Yeah. I did.” A stabbing pain hits Keith and he grimaces, jerking a little in Shiro’s arms. Shiro only holds him tighter, keeping him close to his chest. He can hear his friends murmuring something to each other above Shiro but their voices were so distant he couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. 

“We… we had  _ plans… _ ” he chokes on the blood filling his mouth. 

“That’s okay,” Shiro tells him and Keith couldn’t help but huff a laugh. Shiro runs his hand over Keith’s cheek and rests his palm along his jaw. “Just rest for now. We have the rest of our lives….”

Keith manages to open his eyes again, glancing up, over Shiro’s head to glance at his friends. They towered over them, standing just behind Shiro and just out of focus. They were watching him closely, he could tell that much.

Eventually his eyes focus on them and he was glad to see that they appeared to be alright, no major injuries. Allura looks the worst of them; her hair was a mess and stained with dirt and blood. Her eye was swelling and there was a deep gash marring her cheek.

Hunk was next. His paladin armor was ruined, broken and torn from his body in multiple places. There was blood on his face and pouring from a cut on his shoulder. He was crying and Keith wasn’t sure if it was because of his injuries or something else.

Pidge, for the most part, looked quite alright. She had some cuts and bruises, but not as much blood as the others. She was crying too.

He looks at Lance last. His face was scratched up and bloody, his lower lip was swelling. “I guess…” Keith starts to say but is cut off by a sudden coughing fit. “You were right.”

Lance pales and flounders for words, for something to say, but Keith turns his attention back to Shiro. He smiles at him and Shiro winces. “I guess letting people down is my thing, baby.”

This time, Shiro openly sobs, tears streaming down his face. He shakes his head again and whispers, “You didn’t let me down.”

Keith chuckles. He reaches out to touch Shiro’s face but misses so he settles his hand along his neck instead. “You promise?”

“Of course.” Shiro takes Keith’s hand once more and kisses the palm. He adjusts their hands so that their fingers were entwined, pressing the back of his hand to his chest. He leans down and kisses Keith’s forehead. “You could never let me down.”

Keith exhales. He nuzzles his face into the crook of his arm and murmurs, “I’m tired.”

“I know, buddy,” Shiro tells him, voice wracked with sadness. The sound of it made Keith’s heart ache. “You did well. Just sleep for now.”

Keith hums low in his throat. He’s tired and sleep sounds so tempting. “Will you be here when I wake up?”

“Yes,” Shiro promises. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

So Keith lets himself fall asleep, safe in his boyfriend’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](misstchotchke.tumblr.com)


End file.
